Russians optimistic after Trump-Putin meeting

The summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Alaska ended without announcing a peace plan for Ukraine, but it sparked a certain satisfaction and hope in Moscow, according to Russians interviewed by AFP on Saturday.

For Vitali Romanov, 46, the meeting gave rise to " hope that things will improve, for Russia, for the people and for the people fighting " at the front.

This employee of the Moscow History Museum , whom AFP interviewed a few steps from the Kremlin, said he wants everything to end "now" in Ukraine , where fighting has continued since the start of the Russian offensive launched in February 2022.

Along the same lines, Irina, a 55-year-old nurse, believes the meeting between Trump and Putin will be "good" for Russia.

Trump, who had threatened Russia with "very serious consequences" if it did not agree to end the war, said he no longer contemplated immediate measures after his meeting with Putin. Russia has already been subject to heavy Western sanctions since 2022.

The Russian president's visit to the United States is already seen as a diplomatic victory for Putin, who has so far been isolated from the Western world following his offensive against Ukraine in 2022.

Ukraine and the Europeans fear that this summit has allowed Putin to influence his American counterpart.

Our "greatness"

Liudmila, a 73-year-old retiree from Moscow, is "absolutely convinced" that Putin and Trump "will be able to reach an agreement , because Trump is no fool and understands that our country has greatness, prestige, and many good people."

This woman says she has "high hopes" for a possible visit to Moscow by the US president, who was invited on Friday by his Russian counterpart.

As an indication of the great interest that the meeting in Alaska generated in Russia, Vadim , a 35-year-old agricultural specialist, says he slept very little as he stayed up late watching the news about the summit, which took place late at night in Moscow.

He says he hopes relations between Moscow and Washington will improve and that the conflict in Ukraine will end.

Confrontation "costs too much"

" I don't think relations will improve to the point where we can become allies ," says Elena, a 36-year-old accountant, who is walking with her daughter near the Kremlin.

"But in any case, it's a confrontation that is too costly for the superpowers to continue forever," he believes.

Trump and Putin left Alaska without revealing a plan to end the war or reach a ceasefire in Ukraine, following a friendly and, they said, " productive " summit.

On Saturday, upon his return from Alaska, Trump ruled out an immediate ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine and instead called for a "peace deal."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not invited to the meeting, announced he would travel to Washington on Monday to speak with Trump, with whom he held a telephone conversation in which the Republican informed him of the "main points" of the meeting with Putin.

For analyst Tatiana Stanovaya , "this meeting was neither a failure nor a success."

However, in his view, the summit reinforced "Trump's conviction that Russia cannot be defeated."

And "his main strategic conclusion is that he will never support Ukraine as fully as Europe does, because he doesn't believe Ukraine can win a war against a nuclear power," he wrote on Telegram.